University  Library 
University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


SPEECH 


DELIVERED   AT 


MUSICAL  HALL,  SAN  FRANCISCO, 


AUGUST  5th,  1859. 


REVISED     FROM 

The  Phonographic  Report  of  the "  Sacramento  Union," 


SAN    FRANCISCO: 
PRINTED   AT  THE  OFFICE   OF  THE  DAILY  NEWS. 

1859. 


J> 


\ 


BANCROFT  UMAWX 


MR. 


SPEECH     OF 

EDMUND    RANDOLPH, 


Delivered  at  Musical  Hall,  San  Francisco,  August  5,  1859. 


The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  half-past  8 
o'clock.  Thomas  J.  Poulterer  was  called  to  the 
Chair.  After  returning  thanks  for  the  honor 
conferred  upon  him,  Mr.  Poulterer  introduced  to 
the  meeting  the  speaker  of  the  evening,  EcUuund 
Randolph. 

Mr.  RANDOLPH  said — Fellow-citizens :  I  have 
Bought  the  opportunity  of  addressing  you  this 
evening,  riot  from  any  desire  of  making  a  public 
speech — for  that  I  would  rather  avoid — but  be 
cause  I  believe  that  when  a  man  is  a  candidate 
for  office,  it  is  his  duty  to  present  himself  before 
the  people,  and  do  them  the  homage  of  person 
ally  soliciting  their  votes.  The  office,  gentlemen, 
to  which,  with  your  aid,  I  seek  to  be  elected,  is 
one  requiring  a  certain  degree  of  prefessional  at 
tainments,  and  the  usual  fitness  for  a  public  trust. 
In  none  of  these  things  do  I  claim  any  advantage 
over  my  competitors.  With  one  of  them,  Mr. 
Love,  I  should  be  content  to  be  placed  on  an 
equality.  As  to  the  young  gentleman  who  is  a 
candidate  on  another  ticket,  I  do  not  know  so 
much ;  but  certainly  I  know  nothing  to  his  pre 
judice.  Therefore,  gentlemen,  in  asking  your 
votes,  I  ask  them  upon  political  grounds  alone. 
I  desire  that  every  man  who  may  vote  for  me  for 
this  position,  may  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  ex 
pressing  a  political  opinion  ;  and  that  if  there  is 
any  man  who,  when  he  knows  my  opinions, 
though  he  may  be  intending  to  vote  for  the 
ticket,  should  not  agree  with  me  politically, 
I  desire  that  he  will  remove  my  name  from  the 
ticket.  It  will  give  mo  infinitely  more  satisfac 
tion  to  receive  any  considerable  number  of  votes 
upon  the  ground  of  my  political  position  and  polit 
ical  opinions,  than  to  receive  all  the  votes  that  will 
be  cast  at  this  election  upon  any  other  ground. 
[Applause.]  Asking,  then,  your  suffrages  upon 
political  grounds  alone,  it  becomes  me  to  say  to 
you  that  I  belong  now,  and  always  have  be 
longed,  to  the  party  of  Democratic  opinions.  At 
no  time  have  I  been  associated,  in  any  degree, 
with  any  other  party,  society,  or  sect  in  politics. 


[Applause.]  Always,  it  has  been  my  wish  and 
endeavor  to  adhere  also  to  the  Democratic  organ 
ization,  and  support  the  nominees  of  Democratic 
Conventions ;  and  this  I  have  done  so  far  as  my 
conscience  would  permit.  [Applause.]  It  is 
true,  however,  it  has  oft-times  been  my  lot  in 
California  to  vote  against  the  nominees  of  the 
Democratic  party.  I  have  done  so,  always,  upon 
one  ground  alone :  and  that  my  personal  convic 
tion.  Upon  this  subject  I  desire  to  say  that  I  am 
not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  the  rights  and 
duties  of  a  citizen  are  in  any  degree  compromised 
by  association  with  a  political  party.  Above  all 
other  duties,  I  hold  to  be  that  of  doing  the  best 
which  lies  within  our  power  to  give  to  our  country 
proper  rulers.  [Applause.]  In  my  theory,  Con 
ventions  are  not  the  masters,  but  the  servants  of 
the  people  [applause]  ;  that  it  always  becomes  a 
Convention,  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  nomi 
nating  candidates,  to  justify  their  work  to  the 
people;  not  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  people 
always  to  obey  the  dictates  of  their  own  agents. 
[Applause.]  My  confidence  and  respect  for  the 
intelligence  of  the  people  also  teach  me  that 
whenever  any  considerable  portion  of  a  party  re 
fuses  to  support  the  nominations  of  a  Convention, 
that  then,  not  the  recusants,  but  the  Convention 
stands  rebuked.  [Applause.]  I  say  these  things, 
gentlemen,  from  a  desire  to  deal  to-night  with 
rny  audience  with  the  utmost  frankness  and  can 
dor.  If  any  man  finds  in  these  views  anything 
to  object  to,  his  remedy  is  the  simplest  in  the 
world:  Vote  for  some  man  other  for  the  office  of 
Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  California.  At 
the  present  moment  the  Democratic  party  is 
greatly  divided.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  Demo 
crats  :  on  the  other  hand  Democrats  also.  We 
see  Democrats  who  stand  away  from  the  party, 
silent,  taking  no  part  in  the  contest.  Again,  we 
see  occasionally  Democrats  who,  for  a  genera 
tion,  have  been  known  as  staunch  among  the 
staunchest,  going  over  and  joining  the  Republi 
cans.  Of  this  last  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  nam- 


ing  only  one — an  old  friend  who  was  with  me  in 
the  National  Democratic  Convention  of  1848, 
which  nominated  Mr.  Cass  for  the  Presidency, 
and  who  has  been  a  Democrat  more  years,  per 
haps,  than  I  have  lived ;  and  who,  I  believe, 
will  himself  be  a  Democrat  again,  unless  such  a 
step  should  come  in  conflict  with  some  of  his  new 
opinions.  I  don't  know  how  that  might  be.  I 
allude  to  Mr.  Thomas  Grey,  one  known  well  to 
the  people  of  San  Francisco — whom  they  have 
trusted  and  found  honest.  [Applause.  There 
are  many  more  of  whom  the  same  may  be  said. 
All  these  things  show  how,  at  this  moment,  the 
great  Democratic  party  stands  divided — how 
there  are  two  wings  directly  arrayed  against 
each  other;  as  well  as  another  portion  standing 
entirely  indifferent,  mute  dumb;  others,  driven 
away,  and  taking  refuge  in  another  organization. 
Under  such  circumstances,  the  question  for  us  all 
to  put  to  ourselves,  the  question  which  I  put  to 
myself  is.  Where  shall  I  go?  On  which  side? 
This  is  getting  now  to  be  the  important  question 
the  preeminent,  political-personal  inquiry,  the 
question  which  each  one  must  now  decide  for  him 
self.  Party  feeling  is  running  high,  blood  has 
grown  warm,  and  on  whichever  side  you  are  dis 
posed  to  go,  there  will  be  some  friend  on  the  oth 
er  side  to  meet  you  and  say:  Is  it  possibls  that 
you  are  going  to  join  that  set  over  there?  I  turn 
my  eyes  in  the  direction  indicated,  artd  see  only 
my  fellow-citizens  of  the  State  of  California — see 
only  members  of  the  Democratic  party;  and  when 
such  an  appeal  is  made  to  me  to  refrain  from 
taking  a  position  with  any  considerable  portion 
of  the  people  of  California,  or  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  Democratic  party  in  California, 
such  an  appeal  falls  without  any  weight  whatso 
ever.  I  am  not  able  to  decide  this  question  from 
personal  predilections,  or  personal  antipathies. 
I  regard  as  unworthy  of  ourselves  individually, 
unworthy  the  great  duty  we  are  soon  to  perform, 
the  thought  of  deciding  such  a  question  in  such 
a  manner.  Again,  some  will  say  to  us :  Look 
back  to  the  past,  review  the  turbulent  and  some 
what  turbid  history  of  our  party  in  this  State, 
and  is  it  possible  that  you  will  join  this 
wing  or  that  faction,  or  the  other  clique, 
with  the  responsibility  on  their  shoulders,  of 
this  or  the  other  sinful  act  or  omission  ? — 
pointing  to  something  in  the  past.  For  the 
life  of  me,  I  am  unable  to  discover  anything 
Which,  in  my  poor  judgment,  lends  to  the  one 
party,  or  section  of  a  party,  a  precedence  over 
the  other,  in  a  moral  view.  I  only  do  not  see 
that  all  sections,  all  classes,  all  sects  political, 
embraced  now  or  heretofore  within  the  Demo 
cratic  organization,  have  been  otherwise  than 
equally  guilty.  Gentlemen,  I  know  of  no  Purity 
Party ;  I  know  of  no  set  of  men  in  a  political  as 
sociation  who  can  undertake  for  themselves  to 
thank  God  that  they  are  not  as  other  men  are. 
So  far  as  the  history  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
the  State  of  California  is  concerned,  I  think  that 
in  the  regards  alluded  to,  all  wings  may  be  said 
to  stand  pretty  much  on  an  equality.  But,  gen 
tlemen,  I  look  a  little  nearer :  I  do  see  a  Hue  dis 
tinct,  at  last,  which  begins  to  operate  with  me  to 
some  extent.  Two  forces  have  always  wrought 


upon  the  great  mass  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
this  State.  One  is  a  foreign  influence — rela 
tively  speaking.  I  see  the  indications  of  a 
party  who  take  their  opinions  from  abroad ;  who 
think  and  say  as  they  are  told  in  the  city  of 
Washington  to  think  and  say  [great  applause 
and  cries  of  "  Good  !"] — a  party  well  backed  up 
with  foreign  money,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned 
— relatively  speaking;  that  is,  with  money  from 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  [Applause. 
"The  curse  of  the  State."]  In  that  party  I 
see  no  ground  for  pretension  to  superiority 
over  their  neighbors.  And  I  desire  to  say 
that  in  an  equality  of  sin  and  in  an 
equality  of  virtue,  give  me  rather  the  party  of 
the  State  of  California,  which  endeavors  to 
make  its  opinions,  and  make  its  men,  and  take 
an  independent  position  in  the  councils  of  the 
Nation.  [Prolonged  applause.]  All  these  things, 
in  my  own  personal  connection  with  this 
matter,  which  has  been  exceedingly  limited, 
have  been  distinctly  illustrated.  The  last  time 
that  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing  the  people  of 
San  Francisco  on  a  political  occasion  was  in 
1853.  At  that  time  there  was  one  of  the  nomi 
nations  made  by  a  conven;ion  of  the  Democratic 
party  which  most  indubitably  met  with  my  dis 
approbation,  and  in  the  exercise  of  my  individual 
right  as  a  citizen,  and  iu  response  to  the  call  of  a 
number  of  gentlemen,  I  felt  constrained  to  oppose 
it.  In  so  doing,  the  bitterest  opponents  I  met 
with,  in  the  press  and  before  the  people,  were 
precisely  those  gentlemen  who  one  year  after 
wards  took  up  every  word  I  had  said  and  repeat 
ed  them  with  amplifications  and  with  a  reproach 
ful  and  bitter  spirit,  which  I  had  never  thrown 
into  the  canvass.  What  was  the  reason?  Why, 
geiitlemen,  it  is  as  plain  as  anything  can  be.  The 
party  which  in  '54  pretended  to  be  more  virtuous, 
to  be  purer  than  the  other  portion  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  were  actuated  merely  by  a  disputo 
about  the  division  of  the  proceeds  of  the  common 
victory  in  the  year  '53.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 
I  do  not  undertake  to  give  my  opinion  of  the  past 
as  any  rule  for  any  other  man's  opinion  ;  I  do  not 
propose  to  reopen  any  of  those  things  which  have 
gone  by  ;  I  desire  that  the  past  may  sleep  ;  but 
its  present  application  is,  that  so  far  as  any  divi 
sion  in  the  Democratic  party  is  concerned,  so  far 
as  there  is  any  claim  to  superior  merit,  purity  or 
virtue,  it  is  without  any  foundation  ;  and  those 
who  make  it  never  thought  of  it  until  a  Sena 
torial  election  was  in  question.  In  the  year  1854, 
those  gentlemen  who  took  the  very  same  position 
which  I  had  taken  in  '53,  afterwards  became  so 
exceedingly  proud  of  it  that  to  this  day  they  do 
not  seem  to  remember  that  anybody  had  gone 
before  them,  and  perhaps  they  were  eventually 
enabled  to  persuade  themselves  to  believe  that 
they  were  the  first  persons  who  thought  of  any 
thing  of  the  kind.  [Laughter.]  Now,  gentle 
men,  neither  in  the  history  of  politicians,  any 
more  than  in  the  personal  merits,  any  more  than 
in  the  relative  degrees  of  purity  and  virtue  of 
individuals,  can  I  find  any  thing  to  guide  me 
at  this  time  in  the  choice  of  my  political  course 
and  opinions.  I  must  look  further  than  this.  I 
take  up  next  the  platforms  of  the  two  wings,  so 


called,  of  the  Democratic  party;  both  of  them 
this  year  are  unusually  short.  Read  them,  each 
one  of  you,  for  yourselves.  I  have  read  them, 
and  from  beginning  to  end,  they  are  almost  pre 
cisely  the  same,  save  one  point  of  difference,  and 
that  distinction  consists  in  the  fact  that  tho 
Federal  patronage  party  are  pledged  to  support 
the  Administration  of  James  Buchanan.  Now, 
I  am  one  who,  from,  the  bottom  of  my 
soul,  OPPOSE  the  Administration  of  James 
Buchanan.  [  Great  applause.  ]  At  last  I  have 
reached  firm  ground,  at  last  I  see  something 
by  which  I  am  able  to  determine  my  choice  as 
to  what  party  I  shall  act  with  in  this  election. 
[Applause.]  But,  gentlemen,  friendly  objections 
do  not  cease,  even  yet.  There  are  many  whom  I 
meet  with  in  my  daily  walks — men  whom  I  re 
spect  highly — who  disavow  all  connection  or 
sympathy  with  the  acts  of  this  Administra 
tion,  who  say:  Admit  all  these  charges  to  be 
true:  suppose  everything  which  you  have  to  al 
lege  against  the  Administration  of  James  Bu 
chanan  is  true,  is  it  not  better  to  bear  with  his 
rule  two  years  longer,  and  see  if  we  will  not  get 
a  better  choice  the  next  time?  Gentlemen,  I 
know  of  nothing  which  iurnisb.es  a  parallel  to 
this  proposition,  except  it  be  the  discussion  I 
lately  read  in  the  newspapers,  which  is  said  to 
have  taken  place  in  a  balloon.  The  balloon  was 
being  driven  rapidly  through  the  heavens  by  a 
hurricane,  and  losing  fast  its  power  of  remain 
ing  in  the  air.  descended  towards  the  eartli  and 
was  near  to  being  dashed  into  the  waters  of  Lake 
Ontario,  then  lushed  into  fury  by  the  storm.  Then 
a  discussion  arose  among  the  parties  occupying 
seats  in  the  car  attached,  whether  they  should 
let  the  baloon  come  down  there,  take  their 
chances  of  being  fished  up  by  a  schooner,  or' 
make  for  the  land.  One  thought  it  better  to  re 
main  in  Jthe  lake  and  run  the  risk  of  a  billowy 
grave,while  another  believed  it  preferable  to  make 
for  the  laud  and  take  the  chances  of  being 
dashed  against  the  rocks  or  transfixed  by  the 
bough  of  a  tree — with  a  probability,  however,  of 
a  safe  return.  I  am  of  that  latter  opinion.  Let 
us  not  remain  any  longer  with  this  Administra 
tion  ;  let  us  make  for  the  land  now,  and  not  wait 
to  be  fistied  out  by  a  Charleston  Convention. 
[Great  applause  and  laughter.]  Gentlemen,  it  is 
impossible  to  begin  to  discuss  the  history  of  the 
present  Administration  at  any  other  point  than 
the  Kansas  question.  And  also,  gentlemen,  it  is 
impossible  to  say  any  thing  in  regard  to  thisgreat 
question  which  has  not  been  said  before,  and 
said  a  great  doal  better  than  it  is  in  my  power  to 
say  it.  However,  being  born  in  the  South,  hav 
ing  been  educated  in  the  South,  being,  I  suppose, 
as  completely  a  Southern  man  now  as  a  man  can 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  who  is  thoroughly  a 
California n,  I  prefer,  in  expressing  my  opinion, 
to  adopt  the  language  of  a  Southern  statesman. 
In  the  words  of  Hammond  :  I  think  the  recom 
mendation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  adopt  the  Constitution  for  the  Territory  of 
Kansas  which  was  proposed  atLecompton  ought 
to  have  been  kicked  out  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  [App4au.se.]  The  only  thing  in 
this  connection  which  excites  my  wonder  is, 


that  the  man  who,  within  less  than  a  year  after 
he  hud  voted  for  the  bill  alluded  to,  expressed 
such  an  opinion,  had  not  at  the  proper  time 
done  what  was  in  his  power  to  accomplish 
the  desired  object.  My  objection  to  this  pro 
ceeding  with  reference  to  the  Territory  of  Kan 
sas  is  the  simplest  that  can  be  proposed  to  mor 
tal  man.  It  is  simply  because  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  people  of  Kansas  ever  made  the  Consti 
tution  ;  and  if  the  people  of  Kansas  never  made 
the  Constitution,  in  the  name  of  God,  by  what 
kind  of  reasoning,  by  what  process  of  justifica 
tion,  can  a  man  bring  himself  to  the  point  to  say 
that  the  people  of  Kansas  should  be  governed  by 
such  a  Constitution  ?  [Applause.]  Away  with 
logic,  away  with  fine  distinctions,  no  quibbling, 
no  special  pleading  of  a  lawyer,  but  did  the 
people  of  Kansas  frame  the  Constitution  ?  Is  it 
their  own  work  or  not?  Never  were  these  men 
bold  enough  to  say  that  the  people  of  Kansas 
approved  of  that  Constitution.  Therefore,  when 
the  President  of  the  United  States  did  bring  all 
his  power  to  bear,  all  his  influence,  in  every 
shape  and  form,  to  impose  it  upon  the  people 
in  Kanzas,  HE  DID  ATTEMPT  THE  MOST  MON 
STROUS  OUTRAGE  EVER  HEARD  OF  IN  A  FREE 
COUNTRY.  [Great  applause.]  The  oldest  man  to 
day  in  California,  who  had  not  seen  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  President,  the  Administration  and 
its  supporters  upon  that  matter,  could  never  have 
been  made  to  believe  upon  any  man's  assertion, 
or  by  any  kind  or  specimen  of  argument,  that 
such  a  thing  was  possible  in  these  free  United 
States  of  North  America.  [Great  applause.] 
Gentlemen,  this  proceeding  has  more  than  one 
side  to  it.  That  of  which  we  hear  most  is  that 
of  which  T  have  just  been  speaking.  The  out 
rageous  endeavor  to  force  upon  a  people  an  or 
ganic  law  which  they  never  created  was,  in 
effect,  but  an  insult,  because  no  rational  man 
ever  did  believe  that  that  Constitution  could  by 
any  process  be  made  to  work  in  Kansas.  It  was 
a  gross  indignity  to  that  people.  It  was,  for  a 
time,  a  denial  of  the  rights,  which,  at  the  same 
moment,  it  was  confessed  they  should  have  en 
joyed.  All  the  proceedings  went  upon  the  ad 
mission  that  Kansas  ought  to  have  a  Constitu 
tion,  and  the  attempt  to  force  upon  the  people  of 
that  Territory  a  Constitution  not  of  their  own 
making,  was  simply  a  denial  of  this  cardinal 
right  of  freemen.  But  gentlemen,  mark  you, 
how  this  thing  branded  this  Administration ; 
how,  in  making  this  futile,  this  vain,  this  point 
less  attempt  against  a  free  people,  who  could 
never  be  brought  to  subjection,  wounding  all 
the  sensibilities  of  all  right  feeling  men  from  one 
end  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  mark  you.  how 
the  President  of  the  United  States  did  continue 
to  make  his  damnation  still  deeper  and  blacken 
himself  still  more.  Look  at  the  PERSONAL 
TREACHERY  of  this  man  James  Buchanan,  Presi 
dent  of  these  United  States.  Does  any  man 
deny  that  the  President  wrote  a  letter  instruct 
ing  Robert  J.  Walker  to  go  to  Kansas  and  en 
deavor  to  procure  a  submission  of  the  Constitu 
tion  to  the  people  of  Kansas  ?  President  Bu 
chanan,  by  the  most  urgent  solicitation,  induced 
Mr.  Walker  to  go  to  Kansas  on  this  mission, 


6 


with  instructions  precisely  as  I  hare  declared 
them.  I  think  that,  never  before,  in  the  course 
of  our  political  history,  was  there  an  instance 
where  a  man  was  urged  into  the  perform 
ance  of  a  great  public  duty,  and  when  he  had 
completed  his  required  work,  or  done  all  that 
lay  in  his  power  to  bring  about  the  exact  fulfil 
ment  of  his  commission,  was  turned  upon  by 
the  President,  his  former  professed  friend,  de 
livered  over  to  his  enemies,  abandoned,  reviled 
and  sacrificed  by  the  President  who  sought  him 
out  for  the  service  he  faithfully  followed  accord 
ing  to  the  terms  of  the  appointment.  Can  Du 
plicity  go  farther  than  that?  Can  we  find  any 
thing  in  Double-dealing,  in  Treachery,  in  False 
hood,  which.will  come  quite  up  to  such  a  stand 
ard  as  that,  when  a  man,  holding  the  pre-eminent 
position  of  President  of  the  United  States,  by 
personal,  vehement  solicitation  prevails  upon  a 
gentleman  of  high  standing  to  take  a  position, 
which  required  great  firmness  indeed,  but 
the  instructions  in  regard  to  which  were  plain 
and  complete,  and  then  turns  upon  him,  denies 
him,  derides  him,  and  delivers  him  over  to  the 
persecutors.  [Sensation.]  Gentlemen,  it  goes  a 
little  farther :  There  was  a  vast  deal  of  vaporing 
and  bullying  about  this  matter,  as  well  as  dupli 
city.  It  was  pretended  that  the  President  never 
would  take  another  course.  It  was  announced, 
up  to  the  last  moment,  that  this  Constitution,  after 
having  been  framed  and  passed  upon  by  a 
so-called  Convention  at  Lecompton,  never 
should  be  submitted  directly  to  a  vote  of  the 
people.  Yet,  gentlemen,  notwithstanding  all  that, 
it  was  submitted  virtually ;  an  entire  submission 
being  avoided  only  by  the  most  palpable  shuffle. 
It  was  in  this  way:  Though  the  Constitution  en 
tire  never  was  submitted,certain  propositions  were 
submitted ;  and  just  according  as  the  vote  ou 
those  propositions  stood  were  the  people  consid 
ered  to  have  voted  on  the  whole  Constitution. 
By  that  sort  of  an  ingenious  quibble  did  the 
President  manage  to  keep  up  a  reputation  for 
firmness — in  never  submitting  the  Constitution  to 
the  people  of  Kansas,  at  the  same  time  allowing 
the  people  of  the  Territory  to  vote  upon  it  at  last. 
It  is  like  betting  at  faro,  where  all  that  pas 
ses,  visibly,  is  certain  white  and  red  chips,  but 
money  is  the  real  thing  won  or  lost.  A  person 
may  go  to  the /arc  table  and  pretend  that  he  has 
not  been  guilty  of  gambling,  as  well  as  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  can  pretend  that  he  has  vindicated  his 
firmness,  and  has  not  been  driven  to  submit  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  to  a  vote  of  the  people, 
after  protesting  so  strongly  that  he  never  would 
do  so  In  submitting  the  propositions  comes 
another  circumstance,  which  I  do  not  know  how 
to  qualify  without  venturing  upon  the  use  of  lan 
guage  improper  to  use  before  such  an  intelligent 
audience.  But  what  shall  I  say  ?  When,  at  last, 
the  Constitution  is  sent  to  the  people  for  an  in- 
dorsingor  rejecting  vote,  they  are  told  that  if  they 
vote  in  a  certain  way  they  shall  come  in  as  a 
State,  at  once:  but  if  they  do  not  vote  in 
that  way  they  shall  not  come  in  now,  nor  until 
they  shall  have  obtained  a  much  larger  popula 
tion  than  they  now  possess.  Can  anything  be 
plainer  than  this;  that  if  the  people  of  Kansas 


had  a  right  to  make  a  Constitution  of  one  sort, 
they  had  the  same  right  to  make  a  Constitution 
of  another  sort ;  that  if  this  Administration  put 
in  a  condition  which  was  to  operate  only  in 
a  particular  case  —  was  to  have  no  effect 
unless  the  people  rejected  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  such  action  was  arbitrary  and 
tyrannical  in  the  last  degree.  [Applause.] 
I  do  not  assume  to  say  to  you  one  single 
word  on  this  question  which  you  have  not  al 
ready  heard,  and  heard  a  thousand  times,  perhaps. 
But,  gentlemen,  such  is  the  case.  It  is  not  my 
fault  if  it  is  so  plain.  These  are  the  indisputable 
facts.  How  then  shall  a  man  justify  this  Ad 
ministration  even  for  a  moment?  But,  gentle 
men,  what  I  felt  most  regret  for  in  this  matter  ia 
what,  perhaps,  is  not  heard  so  much  of.  It  is 
that  the  South,  that  portion  of  the  Confederacy 
from  which  I  come,  which  had  always  been 
proud  of  the  purity  of  its  escutcheon  without  a 
stain,  without  a  reproach — should  have  been  led 
into  supporting  the  President  of  the  United  States 
upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  this.  I  regret  that  the 
South  should  have  been  induced  to  lend  her 
self  to  the  President  in  covering  his  crime  in  this 
affair ;  that,  at  last,  for  acting  under  the  influ 
ence  of  this  Administration,  a  man  may  point  his 
finger  at  the  South  and  say :  One  thing  you  have 
done  which  you  cannot  justify  by  the  standard  of 
your  own  morality.  [Great  applause.]  There 
was  the  real  injury  ?  Kansas  had  suffered  little. 
I  presume  that  in  a  short  time  Kansas  will  be  a 
State,  and  few  people  within  her  borders  may  con 
tinue  to  cherish  a  remembrance  of  these  facts.  But 
many  a  day,  many  a  year,  will  elapse  before  it  ia 
forgotten  that  the  people,  the  representatives  of 
the  people  of  the  South,  under  the  Administration 
of  James  Buchanan,  aided  the  President  in  at 
tempting  this  disgraceful  imposition  upon  that 
young  community.  [Applause.]  What  was  it 
that  induced  the  South  to  indorse  this  thing? 
For  the  mere  name,  shadow  and  pretence  of  in 
troducing  slavery  where  slavery  would  never  go, 
so  that  all  this  reproach  has  fallen  upon  our 
people,  all  for  naught,  for  no  one  who  under 
stands  the  opinions  of  the  people  of  Kansas, 
who  knows  the  nature  of  the  country  in  dif- 
erent  latitudes  —  under  no  circumstances  will 
such  a  man  presume  to  say  that  ever  Kansas 
could  be  a  slave  State.  Never.  Therefore,  for  a 
mere  name,  the  bare  idea  of  making  a  slave  State 
on  paper,  the  South  was  misled  to  lend  their  aid 
in  this  matter.  But,  gentlemen,  this  is  not  the 
point  of  beginning  in  this  matter.  In  the  reso 
lutions  adopted  at  Cincinnati,  in  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-six,  there  are  resolutions  which 
do  most  vitally  concern  all  the  people  and  States 
of  the  South,  resolutions  which  pledged  this 
Administration  to  maintain  the  ascendancy  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  maintain  a  predominant  influence 
oa  all  the  Isthmian  routes.  These  were  of  real 
interest  to  the  South,  and  all  of  these  were  for 
gotten  in  this  melancholy  rage  and  madness 
to  carry  through  an  impossible  and  utterly 
worthless  fraud.  [Applause.]  So  deeply 
involved,  so  steadfastly  engaged  were  the  Presi 
dent  and  all  his  Cabinet  and  advisers  in  perpe- 


i 


trating  the  Kansas  outrage,  that  all  these  things 
were  totally  forgotten.  At  that  very  period, 
when  the  Executive  attention  was  riveted  on  this 
scheme,  the  English  navy  rode  haughtier  than 
ever  before  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

At  that  very  time  one  Isthmian  route  was 
entirely  closed,  and  another  in  imminent  danger 
of  being  closed.  In  every  country,  from  our 
southern  line  to  the  equator,  the  name  of  the 
United  States  had  become  a  by-word  and  a 
reproach,  and  the  influence  of  our  Govern 
ment  was  utterly  lost.  There  was  the  real 
injury  which  was  done  during  that  session  of 
Congress.  Because,  as  matters  stood,  with 
the  alliance  between  France  and  England, 
the  united  diplomatic  forces  of  France  and 
England  brought  to  bear  to  support  this 
order  of  affairs,  there  was  great  cause  to  fear 
that  these  two  European  Powers  would  gain  a 
sure  and  permanent  foothold  in  the  States  to  our 
south.  Perhaps,  from  this  danger,the  Government 
of  the  U.  States  escaped  by  the  entanglements 
which  soon  took  place  on  the  Continent  of  Eu 
rope.  In  the  distracted  condition  of  Mexico  and 
the  States  below  her,  and  with  the  great  activity 
prevailing  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  powers  to  whom 
I  have  referred,  and  with  the  navies  of  these  two 
great  powers  acting  in  concert,  nothing  was  more 
possible.nothing  more  reasonable,  than  the  obtain 
ing  of  a  firm  and  lasting  foothold  by  European  Na 
tions  immediately  upon  our  southern  boundaries. 
Perhaps,  I  say,  we  owe  to  the  present  war  in  Eu 
rope  a  safety  from  such  impending  events.  Not  un 
to  us,  not  unto  our  own  Government's  foresight,do 
we  owe  anjr  improvement  in  the  complexion  of  our 
affairs  with  our  Southern  neighbors.  Gentlemen, 
when  I  commence  speaking  of  our  foreign  rela 
tions  the  first  thing  which  occurs  to  my  mind  is 
the  language  of  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Ad 
ministration  Convention  which  recently  met  in 
this  State,  lauding  this  Administration  for  procur- 
ingthe  abandonment  of  the  right  of  search  byGreat 
Britain.  Have  you  paid  any  attention  to  that  ? 
Do  you  know  with  how  many  qualifications  this 
abandonment  is  madB?  I  will  tell  you  some  of 
them.  In  the  first  place,  while  they  have  "  aban 
doned  the  right  of  search,"  they  claim  the  right 
to  search  when  they  have  cause  of  suspicion 
[laughter]  ;  and  in  that  way,  or  under  that  ex 
ception,  they  have,  since  this  boasted  "  abandon 
ment,"  overhauled  one  vessel,  invaded,  searched 
and  actually  burnt  her,  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
Another  exception  to  this  "abandonment  "  is, 
that  if  the  British  Government  has  a  Minister  in 
a  foreign  country,  and  if  any  vessels  bound  to 
that  country  are  supposed  to  be  likely  to 
carry  ammunition  or  means  of  disturbance  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  country,  then  again,  in 
that  case,  she  reserves  the  right  to  search.  This 
is  a  declaration  of  the  British  Government  to  Mr. 
Dallas,  in  an  official  communication.  Again,  if 
vessels  happen  to  be  lying  in  the  port  of  Grey- 
town,  the  British  Government  claim  the 
right  of  search,  by  virtue  of  a  piotecto- 
rate.  But  our  Government  pretended  not 
to  recognize  that  protectorate  and  yet  this 
exception  seems  to  have  been  agreed  to  by 
this  Administration — certainly  we  have  heard 


no  word  of  complaint  on  that  subject  from  an 
Administration  source.  I  do  not  think  much 
of  any  "  abandonment  of  the  right  of  search" 
with  all  these  reservations  and  conditions. 
I  think  that  it  is  very  much  like  a  Chinese  vic 
tory.  I  know  of  nothing  unless  it  is  that  which 
at  all  resembles  it.  "When  the  British  took  pos 
session  of  Canton  the  Chinese  were  compelled  to 
buy  off  their  enemies  by  the  payment  of  a  great 
many  millions  of  pounds  sterling.  They  paid 
the  money  and  the  British  went  away.  Then 
the  Chinese  boasted  loudly,  and  had  a  great  time 
about  it.  They  boasted  as  much  as  our  Admin 
istration  does  about  the  right  of  search  having 
been  abandoned.  They  said :  These  poor  for 
eigners  were  exhausted  in  means  and  we  treated 
them  kindly,  and  we  gave  them  money  to  live 
upon  when  they  got  home ;  and  all  the  Chinese, 
upon  that,  cry  out  at  the  victory  which  has  been 
obtained  over  the  British.  [Great  laughter  and 
applause.] 

One  other  great  triumph  of  this  Administration 
is  the  celebrated  I'araguay  Expedition.  [Laugh 
ter.]  This  famous  expedition  set  out  with  great 
pomp,  with  many  ships  of  war,  carrying  great 
guns  and  many  hundreds  of  armed  men,  for  the 
purpose  of  "  demanding  satisfaction"  from  a  Gov 
ernment  somewhere  in  the  very  heart  of  South 
America.  This  expedition  was  fitted  out  and 
carried  through  at  a  cost  of  five  or  six  millions 
of  dollars.  I  suppose  that  there  is  no  man  who 
is  able  exactly  to  say  how  much  it  did  cost. 
Now,  I  will  tell  you  how  much  it  gained.  I 
think  that  $10,000  was  secured  as  a  compensa 
tion  to  the  family  of  an  American  seaman  who 
had  lost  his  life  from  some  act  of  the  Govern- 

m<A    VOICE 
American  man-of-war. 

MR.  RANDOLPH — On  board  of  an  American 
vessel-of-war,  by  a  shot  fired  from  a  Paraguay 
an  fort;  $10,000  was  the  sum  gained;  five, 
six  or  seven  millions  was  expended.  Then  the 
President  of  Paraguay  agrees  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States  that  all  other  demands  shall 
be  left  out  to  referees,  and  for  whatever  sum  the 
referees  report  the  President  of  Paraguay  will 
give  his  note.  [Great  laughter.]  That  is  all 
that  has  actually  been  gained  by  this  Paraguay 
Expedition,  save  and  except  always  a  famous 
letter  written  hy  one  James  B.  Bowlin,  who  was 
sent  out  as  Peace  Commissioner,  instructed  by 
James  Buchanan,  who  hates  war,  in  the  name  of 
God  to  stop  anything  like  fighting.  [Laughter.] 
This  letter  explains  to  you  how  it  was  that  this 
Administration  was  enabled  to  procure  so  distin 
guished  a  success  in  regulating  these  affairs  in 
South  America.  It  was  the  simplest  way  in  the 
world.  As  soon  as  the  fleet  arrived  in  the  har 
bor  of  Montevideo,  the  American  Commissioner 
goes  ashore  to  reconnoiter,  and.  as  he  writes  to 
the  President,  he  was  rather  coldly  received. 
He  didn't  like  that;  he  was  afraid  that  there  was 
some  war  in  it.  [Cheers  and  laughter.]  Therefore 
he  picks  out  the  most  important  man  in  that 
place  and  tells  him  to  use  all  his  influence  to  pre 
vent  any  fighting,  for  it  is  not  his  intention,  with 
all  his  fleet/to  do  anything  like  shooting.  [Laugh- 


8 


ter.]  Then  these  suspicious  people  became  more 
agreeable,  aud  of  this  fact  the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  duly  informed  by  the  Commis 
sioner  for  the  United  States.  Commissioner  Bow- 
lin  then  proceeds  a  little  further  up  the  river  and 
he  comes  to  another  country — it  don't  matter 
about  the  name  of  it.  There  Mr.  Bowlin  is  met 
by  General  Urquiza,  and  he  is  treated  in  tha 
same  manner  in  which  he  is  treated  below.  Bow- 
lin  takes  the  General  one  side  and  assures  him 
that  nothing  like  fighting  is  intended.  [Laugh 
ter.]  Mr.  Bowlin  says  that  Urquiza  i>  delighted 
and  most  delightful  is  the  manner  in  which  Mr. 
Bowlin  describes  the  delight.  He  don't  express 
himself  in  an  ordinary  way.  He  says  that  after 
giving  them  these  assurances: 

"I  assured  him  that,  whilst  I  was  compelled 
to  decline  his  mediation  as  the  bearer  of  the  olive 
branch,  aud  knowing  the  views  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  and  its  anxiety  for  an  amicable  but  hon 
orable  adjustment  of  the  unhappy  difficulties,  I 
should  feel  grateful  to  him  for  any  kind  offices 
ho  might  employ  in  carrying  out  these  peaceful 
views.  As  I  closed  these  remarks,  the  General, 
with  a  kind  of  electric  spontaniety " 

Electric  spontaniety  !  [Great  laughter.]  What 
in  the  world  that  meant  I  don't  know.  Mr. 
Bowlin  proceeds  up  the  river.  Gen.  Urquiza 
mounts  his  horse  and  travels  overland,  and 
makes  great  haste  in  ordef  to  get  to  the  Cap 
ital  of  Paraguay,  where  Lopez  resides,  before 
the  Commissioner  arrived.  When  he  gets  there 
he  tells  Lopez  and  his  Ministers  all  the  choice 
things  that  Mr.  Bowlin  has  said,  amplifying  and 
rendering  them  even  more  impressive,  so  that 
when  Lopez  meets  Bowlin  he  at  once  greets  him 
with  open  arms.  This  is  fully  recorded  in  the 
famous  letter  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Accord 
ing  to  the  best  authority,  there  is  an  equal 
amount  of  delight  manifested  on  this  occasion, 
though  we  hear  nothing  of  "electric  spontaniety." 
[Laughter.] 

One  item  which  strangely  characterizes 
this  Administration  is  the  selection  of  the 
man  sent  as  Minister  to  Paraguay.  According 
to  his  own  showing,  he  is,  doubtless,  quite  a 
respectable  old  gentleman,  who  would  have  done 
very  well  to  have  remained  at  home  and  drove  a 
hay  cart  [laughter] ;  but  why  in  the  world  he 
was  sent  upon  a  foreign  embassy  this  Adminis 
tration  alone  can  determine.  He  writes  in  the  most 
natural  way  about  the  markets  of  the  capital;  how 
the  women  dressed.that  they  dressed  in  calico  and 
•went  barefoot  [laughter]  ;  what  was  their  com 
plexion,  and  how  they  smiled  and  showed  their 
teeth.  He  says  that  the  country  nrmch  resembles 
Missouri — the  only  place  he  could  think  of,  I 
presume,  [i  Treat  laughter,  and  shouting  "  Pike!"] 
It  is  very  like  Missouri,  he  exclaims.  He  says 
it  stands  on  two  great  rivers — a  fact  of  which 
the  President  might  have  been  apprised,  if  he 
had  ever  looked  at  the  map.  [Laughter.]  The 
Paraguay  expedition  has  come  home  again,  and 
now  we  turn  to  subjects  which  touch  us  a  little 
more  nearly.  We  find  how  one-half  of  our  peo 
ple  were  insulted  by  a  threat  of  tyranny, 
thrown  into  their  teeth,  and  for  no  possible 
practicable  object;  how  the  other  half  was 


disgraced,  and  how  this  great  Administra 
tion,  engaged  in  shameful  acts,  forget  the  inter 
ests  of  the  country  lying  at  our  doors.  Now,  we 
come  to  the  railroad.  Gentlemen,  was  not  James 
Buchanan  honored  with  the  vote  of  California  in 
a  very  great  degree  on  account  of  his  promise  as 
to  that  railroad  ?  ["Yes!"  "Yes!"]  That  prom 
ise  reached  here  just  in  time  to  operate  in  the 
election,  and  not  in  time  to  get  back  home — to 
such  parts  of  the  country  as  were  opposed  to  a 
railroad.  And  then,  it  appears  to  me,  all  the  bu 
siness  of  James  Buchanan  in  regard  to  a  Pacific 
Railroad  was  entirely  completed.  What  else, 
what  else,  WHAT  ELSE  has  there  been  done?  Take 
this  Administration  according  toils  own  mode  of 
conducting  business.  Has  there  ever  been  a 
Postmaster  discharged  in  behalf  of  a  railroad? 
[Laughter.]  Has  anybody  been  threatened  with 
expulsion  from  the  Democratic  party  on  account 
of  this  road  ?  And  when  the  President  is  at 
work,  we  are  apprised  of  it  by  some  such  sign 
as  that.  We  hear  the  most  cold,  merely  verbal 
recommendations  in  those  formal  papers  known 
as  "Annual  Messages"  that  there  ought  to  be  a 
railroad — a  fact  of  which  we  are  pretty  thor 
oughly  aware.  But  where,  0  where,  can  any 
man  show  me  the  influence  of  .this  Adminis 
tration  manifested  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  work  ?  Nowhere.  There  is  no  belief 
but  this:  It  is  considered  by  every  reflect 
ing  man  that  if  there  is  even  one  thing  under  the 
sun  to  which  President  Buchanan  is  more  in 
different  than  to  another,  it  is  a  railroad  to  Cali 
fornia.  We  cannot  look  into  his  breast  and  see 
the  promptings  of  his  heart,  but  we  judge  him 
merely  according  to  what  we  see  in  his  acts, 
Why,  then,  I  say,  is  it  that  our  great  people  are 
to  be  trifled  with  in  this  way  ?  Is  the  most  sub 
lime  office  in  the  world  to  be  won  by  a  false 
hood  ?  Here,  again,  I  see  one  more  falsehood, 
another  act  of  duplicity,  and  one  which  should 
sink  deep  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  every 
man  in  the  State  of  California.  [Great  ap 
plause.]  Would  it  be  necessary  for  me  to  go 
further  to  justify  what  I  said  in  the  beginning — 
that  from  the  heart  and  upon  my  conscience,  I 
do  cordially  oppose  and  detest  the  Administra 
tion.  [Applause  and  cries  of  "No  1"  ''Enough!*] 
So  many  wrongs,  so  many  outrages,  such  great 
falsehoods — surely  this  is  enough  to  make  any 
man  stop  and  refuse,  even  if  there  were  but  five 
minutes  left  of  the  Presidential  reign,  to  give 
one  syllable  more  to  applaud  such  a  man.  [Ap 
plause.]  Gentlemen,  there  is  another  subject  to 
which  I  will  call  your  attention,  because,  like 
those  which  I  have  mentioned,  it  is  to  be 
found  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Cincinnati  Con 
vention.  I  wish  to  show  one  more  instance  in 
which  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
great  affairs,  has  broken  his  pledge  and  plighted 
word. 

There  is  a  resolution  among  those  adopted  at  the 
Cincinnati  Convention  which  pledges  Jas.Buchan-  j 
an  to  a  sympathy  with  the  struggles  of  a  certain 
number  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  were  in  Central 
America.  I  do  not  ask  you  now  to  concur  or 
agree  with  that  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  who 
were  engaged  in  that  struggle.  I  do  not  care  to 


detain  you  by  relating  what  I  personally  know 
upon  that  subject.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  in  the 
month  of  June,  1856,  James  Buchanan,  in  solemn 
form  and  under  his  own  sign  manual,  pledged 
himself  to  the  deepest  sympathy  with  the  strug 
gle  of  these  persons.  In  his  first  Annual  Mes 
sage  thereafter  he  did  denounce  the  very  same 
men,  engaged  in  the  very  same  acts,  and  referring 
to  the  very  same  events  throughout,  as  no  better 
than  robbers,  pirates  and  murderers.  [Sensation.] 
Now  I  ask  you,  not  what  you  think  of  these 
forays — as  some  of  you,  perhaps,  would  call 
them — in  a  foreign  country,  but  what  you  think 
of  your  President  for  having  given  such  a  pledge 
and  then  improved  the  first  opportunity  to  unsay 
it  again?  Does  any  man  doubt  this?  He  will 
find  it  all  in  print.  He  will  find  it  by  the  resolu 
tions  and  the  votes  adopted  at  the  Cincinnati  Con- 
vention,and  the  President's  letter  of  acceptance  of 
his  nomination.  He  will  find  in  the  first  Annual 
Message  of  the  President  how  those  whom  James 
Buchanan  called  his  friends,  and  to  whom  he 
pledged  all  his  sympathy,  were  denounced  for  all 
the  crimes  in  the  calendar  when  speaking  of  the 
very  same  acts  for  which  he  had  before  professed 
sympathy.  Bear  in  mind  still,  gentlemen,  that  I 
ask  no  man's  opinions  with  reference  to  those 
matters  occurring  in  that  part  of  the  world  out 
side  of  the  United  States :  but  take  the  case  as 
it  stands  upon  the  records,  and  how  does  it  affect 
the  President?  In  the  month  of  June,  '56,  the 
President  of  the  U.  States  pledged  his  sj^mpathy 
with  those  persons,  and  in  the  month  of  December 
in  the  following  year  after  his  election,and  after  re 
ceiving  the  votes  of  all  their  friends,  he  denounces 
these  men  for  the  very  same  acts  for  which  he  had 
declared  his  sympathy.  FALSEHOOD  is  no  light 
matter  in  the  humblest  individual.  In  the  Deca 
logue  few  crimes  are  greater  than  LYING.  I 
apply  no  epithets  in  speaking  of  such  matters. 
The  facts  rehearse  their  own  character  and  that 
of  their  authors.  I  ask  you  how  you  would  have 
regarded  the  transaction  if  you  had  been  served 
in  this  way  by  an  individual  of  your  acquaint 
ance?  If  in  the  month  of  June,  1856,  your 
neighbor  had  made  you  a  promise  for  a  consider 
able  sum,  and  after  he  had  obtained  what  he  had 
desired,  had  refused  to  prform  his  promise 
and  had  seized  the  first  opportunity  to  de 
nounce  you  as  the  greatest  villain  unhung? — 
Gentlemen,  this  story  is  a  long  one,  and  I  shall 
endeavor,  if  I  do  not  exhaust  your  patience,  to 
go  through  with  it.  I  do  not  want  to  dwell  long 
on  any  particular  part.  ["G-o  on  !"]  Now,  I  will 
call  your  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  whole 
continent  of  North  America  south  of  our  south 
ern  boundary.  Through  twenty  degrees  of 
latitude  on  this  continent,  under  every  govern 
ment,  in  every  State,  almost  in  every  city,  you 
will  find  that  Americans  have  been  murdered, 
robbed,  or  imprisoned.  [Sensation.] 

I  make  no  rash  assertions,  because  in  the  very 
messages  of  the  President  himself  you  will  find 
this  thing  admitted.  What  I  have  to  say,  gen 
tlemen,  is  that  not  one  effort  has  been  made  to 
avenge  or  to  secure  redress  for  any  of  this  mul 
titude  of  wrongs.  Every  drop  of  American  blood 
there  spilled— every  American  who  was  bound 


down  there  in  chains  is  still,  to  this  moment  un 
avenged.  Is  that  a  Government?  Call  you  that 
an  Administration  which  will  quietly  and  delibe 
rately  sit  by,  admitting  that  it  is  not  safe  for  a 
citizen  of  pur  Government  to  put  his  foot  be 
yond  his  own  door,  not  into  the  very  next  coun 
try  ;  virtually  declaring  that,  whatever  may  hap 
pen  to  him  there  of  evil,  no  one  advance  shall 
be  made 'for  prevention  or  redress?  Call  you 
that  a  Government  ?  Gentlemen,  worse  and 
worse.  The  President  of  the  United  States 
has,  in  the  most  formal  manner,  abdicated  one- 
half  the  powers  of  the  government.  By  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  he  is  given 
command  in  chief  of  the  army  and  navy.  "  Com 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy"  is  no 
idle  phrase.  The  meaning  of  it  is  that  no  Ameri 
can  shall  suffer  wrong,  no  American  shall  be 
murdered,  robbed  or  imprisoned  where  the  army 
or  navy  can  reach  but  what  he  shall  be  delivered 
or  avenged.  [Great  applause.]  Mark  you  the 
distinction — that  is  not  war.  War  is  one  thing, 
and  that  is  another.  In  time  of  war  the  whole 
force  of  one  country  ia  directed  against  all  the 
other  country,  everywhere,  and  under  all  cir 
cumstances.  But  I  speak  of  applying  the  force 
of  the  government  directly  to  the  case  in  point. 
If,  in  a  certain  point,  an  American  is  imprisoned, 
discovered  to  be  in  irons,  in  a  manner  contrary 
to  the  habits  and  usages  of  civilized  countries,  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Ar 
my  and  Navy,  by  the  strong  hand,  to  take  him. 
out.  War  is  quite  a  different  thing,  for  in  war 
you  have  to  employ  the  army  and  navy  every 
where  else,  at  every  other  point,  even  where  no 
such  persons  have  been  imprisoned.  I  say  that 
the  President  abdicated  this  great  and  most 
important  power  when  he  went  to  Congress 
to  give  him  the  right  to  use  that  power 
over  w'hich  he  already  had  control.  Congress 
could  not  add  to  his  constitutional  power,  arid 
ought  not  so  to  do;  but  he  found,  in  this  step,  an 
escape  from  his  plain  duty  under  the  letter  of  the 
Constitution  itself.  This  escape  he  found  by  the  ab 
dication  of  one-half  the  powers  of  the  government. 
Gentlemen,  worse  than  that ;  for  not  only  have 
these  wrongs  been  unavenged  in  any  single  in 
stance,  not  only  has  there  been  a  formal  surren 
der  of  the  power  to  avenge  them,  but  actually, 
in  a  great  majority  of  cases,  the  President  has 
never  so  much  as  raised  a  complaint  concerning 
these  atrocities.  Let  'me  call  your  attention, 
now,  gentlemen,  to  an  event,  which,  more  than 
any  other  which  has  happened  since  the  settle 
ment  of  the  Pacific  coast,  is  calculated  to  stir  the 
blood  and  shock  the  sensibilities  of  every  man, 
of  every  American  citizen — above  all,  of  every 
Californian. 

It  is  not  very  long  since,  from  the  midst  of  us, 
there  went  forth  a  band  of  as  noble  young  men 
as  ever  departed  for  any  object  in  the  course  of 
history.  We  do  not  precisely  know  what  these 
men  went  out  for.  Perhaps  I  myself  know  as 
much,  personally,  of  them  and  their  mission  as 
any  other  man.  From  all  that  can  be  learned  I 
suppose  that  it  is  pretty  well  determined  that 
these  young  men  were  invited  into  a  neighbor 
ing  State  of  Mexico  by  a  revolutionary  party,  to 


10 


give  aid  in  the  establishment  of  the  policy  of  that 
party,  to  wit :  To  take  part  in  some  of  the  pro- 
nunciamientos  and  revolutions  which  constitute 
the  ordinary  politics  of  that  country.  Upon  that 
invitation,  reduced  to  writing  on  paper,  this 
party  was  induced  to  enter  the  State  of  Mexico, 
with  Henry  A.  Crabb  at  their  head.  Do  you  not 
remember  them  ?  Has  any  man  here  forgotten 
Henry  A.  Crabb  ?  [Applause  and  hisses.]  Have 
you  forgotten  any  of  those  who  went  wilh  him? 
Out  of  the  very  flower  of  the  Whig  party  of  this 
State  went  these  men.  They  were  mainly  from 
the  Whig  party.  Trusted  they  were,  everywhere, 
in  all  kinds  of  difficult  positions.  And  amongst 
the  noblest,  bravest  and  most  trustworthy  of  all 
public  or  private  men  was  Henry  A.  Crabb,  a 
man  who  would  have  done  honor  to  any  posi 
tion  ;  a  man  whom  any  people  might  have  de 
lighted  to  honor ;  a  man  in  whose  keeping  the 
powers  of  this  Government  would  have  been 
safely  lodged,  and  its  honor  guarded  as  a  great 
treasure;  a  man  who  was  fit  and  capable  to  oc 
cupy  a  seat  in  the  council  chambers  of  the  nation 
as  a  peer  of  the  best;  who  would  have  adorned 
by  his  genius  any  Senate  at  any  period  of  our 
history  ;  that  man,  I  say,  was  tempted  from  our 
midst  and  slaughtered,  slnughtered,  SLAUGHTERED, 
most  inhumanly.  And  the  blood  of  bis  compan 
ions  was  spilt  with  his,  and  with  the  same  terri 
ble  ignominy.  All  this  was  done,  and  where  do 
we  hear  one  word  even  of  remonstrance  from 
this  President?  Where  is  the  inquiry,  addressed 
in  any  form,  to  the  Government  of  Mexico,  State 
or  Central  ?  Where  is  there  any  movement 
about  it  in  our  Government,  Executive  or  Legis 
lative?  Total,  total  indifference  I  What  shall 
we  say  of  such  a  President  as  this  ?  0,  is  the 
blood  of  our  flesh  and  blood,  the  very  noblest  of 
our  blood,  to  be  shed  thus  unnoted,  unavenged? 
Are  those  we  most  loved,  most  prized  amongst 
all  our  brethren,  whom  we  had  most  delighted 
to  place  in  places  of  distinction,  before  the  public 
gaze,  are  they  to  disappear,  are  they  to  be  butch 
ered  by  savages,  and  not  one  word  of  inquiry  to 
come  from  our  Government  ?  [Sensation.]  Is 
that  a  Government  ?  Are  we  a  people  ?  What 
are  we.  that  you  appeal  to  us  and  ask  us  to  sup 
port  a  man  with  all  these  sins  of  omission  and 
commission  upon  his  head  ?  Now  here,  upon 
this  subject,  gentlemen,  do  I  desire  to  render 
public  thanks  to  one  public  man,  who  at  least 
has  raised  his  voice  in  condemnation  of  the  Pres 
ident  for  entirely  overlooking  this  fact.  Gentle 
men,  that  man  is  David  C.  Broderick.  [Tremen 
dous  applause  and  cheering,  lasting  nearly  two 
minutes.]  Mr.  Crabb,  bear  in  mind,  never  was 
a  personal  or  political  friend  of  Mr.  Broderick. 
On  the  contrary,  he  stood  in  his  way  and  baulked 
his  ambition.  I  myself  have  never,  in  any  man 
ner,  lent  a  hand  to  Mr.  Broderick  to  rise  one  step 
in  the  ladder  of  his  ambition.  I  can  claim  noth 
ing  on  that  score.  I  speak  not  from  any  par 
tiality,  but  I  say,  let  any  man  say  what  he  will 
against  Mr.  Broderick,  let  him  bring  what  charges 
he  can  against  Mr.  Broderick,  aye,  and  prove 
them,  too,  he  was  the  first  man  who  raised  his 
•voice  in  favor  of  avenging  the  foul  murder  of  a 
man  for  whom  my  grief  flows  deepest  and 


for  whom  my  sorrow  is  most  acute.  [Great 
applause.]  Are  we  not  men  ?  Is  this 
thing  of  civil  society  and  government  but  a 
game  ?  Are  there  no  human  feelings,  no  great 
interests  at  stake  in  this  matter?  And  of  these 
all,  what  so  precious  as  the  blood  of  our  people? 
[Sensation.]  Shall  we,  then,  ibr  any  conceivable 
argument  of  party  convenience  or  expediency, 
give  our  countenance  to  a  man  who  holding  tho 
reins  of  power,  yet  has  betrayed  us  by  leaving  u3 
under  these  grievous  wrongs  without  a  remedy — 
without  the.  consolation  of  a  notice.  But,  geutle- 
men,let  us  go  on.  Let  us  try  and  see  the  end  of  this 
dark,  dark  story.  About  tho  time  that  this  party 
was  slaughtered  on  Mexican  soil,  four  American 
citizens,  whose  names  I  will  give  you,  were 
murdered  by  the  same  band  upon  American  soil. 
This  occurred  at  a  place  called  Sonoita,  just  across 
the  boundary  line — just  on  the  American  side. 
After  these  fiends  had  butchered  our  friends  at 
this  dreadful  place,  Cavorca,  they  crossed  over 
to  the  other  side  of  the  line,  and,  in  the  night 
time,  took  out  these  men,  who  were  lying  ill  in 
their  beds,  and,  placing  them  against  a  bank, 
shot  them.  It  was  a  devilish  deed.  Have  you 
ever  read  that  this  foul  murder  of  Harrison,  Long, 
Bunker  and  Parker,  upon  American  soil,  was 
ever  avenged,  or  that  even  an  attempt  at  redresa 
was  ever  made  ?  Remember,  gentlemen,  if  you 
please,  the  names :  Harrison,  Bunker,  Parker, 
Long.  And  the  witness  who  saw  them  shot  is 
now  in  town  to  testify  to  the  facts.  He  was 
employed  there  as  clerk  in  the  store  of  Dunbar. 
He  was  marched  out  of  the  house  from  which 
these  men  were  taken  to  be  shot,  and  carried 
into  Mexican  territory,  and  there  detained  for 
ten  months,  with  no  assigned  cause  for  his  impris 
onment.  He  had  never  heard  even  of  this  expe 
dition  in  which  Mr.  Crabb  and  his  companions  fell, 
until  a  short  time  before  they  passed  through 
Sonoita.  These  desperadoes  kept  him  until  they 
got  tired  of  him,  and  then  they  sent  him  away. 
And  that  man  is  here;  that  man  is  ready  to 
swear  to  these  facts.  The  line  had  been  run  by 
the  American  Commission  and  recognized  by 
both  Governments.  Ths  fact  has  been  indispru- 
tably  established  that  these  men  were  murdered 
upon  American  soil ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  no 
complaint  has  been  uttered  concerning  it  by  our 
Government,  much  less  any  satisfaction  ever  de 
manded  therefor.  Gentlemen,  I,  as  every  other 
Californian,  believe  that  one  good  thing  has  been 
procured,  so  far  as  we  are  concerced,  since  this 
Administration  has  gone  into  power  and  that  is 
the  OVERLAND  MAILS.  Doubtless  that  good 
thing  has  been  done.  Let  us  not  deny  that. 
Arid  in  the  last  Annual  Message  of  the 
President  you  hear  him  recommending  that 
portions  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  be 
stationed  along  at  different  points,  for  the  pur 
pose,  as  he  declares,  of  affording  protection  to 
the  horses  and  mules  and  entire  stock  of  the 
Stage  Company.  According  to  his  recommenda- 
tion.some  of  these  soldiers  might  be  stationed  right 
on  the  very  spot  where  these  Americans  were 
murdered.  Within,  at  least,  a  few  miles  of  the 
place  where  Harrison,  Bunker,  Parker  and  Long 
were  murdered,on  American  soil,our  troops  would 


11 


be  placed,  not  to  avenge  their  horrid  deaths,  but 
to  protect  mules  and  stage  horses.  [Sensation 
and  laughter.]  Gentlemen,  as  we  come  north, 
we  find  our  way  to  the  Mountain  Meadows. 
Here,  on  a  certain  day,  in  the  foil  of  the  year 
'57,  were  murdered  one  hundred  and  twenty  or 
one  hundred  and  thirty  men,  women  and  chil 
dren — American  citizens.  Have  you  ever  heard 
any  inquiry  into  that  affair  ?  What  has  the  Pres't 
done  to  ferret  out  and  convict,  much  less  to  pun 
ish,  those  who  committed  that  enormous  crime? 
He  sent  an  officer  into  that  country — a  Judge — 
who  is  accused  of  straining,  and  who  perhaps  did 
strain  his  powers  to  obtain  information  and  a 
conviction ;  and  I  hope  to  God  he  did  strain  a 
point,  as  I  think  any  good  man  would  have  done, 
if  he  thought  it  necessary,  in  such  a  case. 
[Great  applause.]  He  undertook  to  inquire  into 
this  business.  He  met  with  complete  proof  of 
the  fact  that  as  many  as  eighty  of  the  Mormons 
in  that  valley,  disguised  as  Indians,  were  engaged 
in  the  murder  of  this  immigrant  trairt,  doubtless 
for  the  purpose  of  avenging  the  killing  of  a  lech 
erous  old  wretch  by  the  name  of  Parley  Pratt, 
who  was  killed  by  a  citizen  of  Arkansas.  As 
many  as  eighty  Mormons  were  engaged  in  this 
massacre,  according  to  the  record  furnished  by 
Judge  Cradlebaugh.  Of  course  there  was  great 
resistance  and  opposition  made  by  this  people  to 
the  prosecution  of  any  of  these  inquiries,  and 
when  the  matter  is  heard  of  at  Washington,  the 
President  just  does  not  remove  Judge  Cradlebaugh. 
The  President  caused  a  letter  to  be  written  to 
him,  informing  him  that  he  had  violated,  tran 
scended  his  powers  in  the  premises,  but  not  sug 
gesting  anything  to  enable  him  to  carry  out  the 
great  and  noble  idea  of  bringing  the  guilty  in  this 
fearful  crime  to  punishment.  Who  is  this  man  ? 
What  imbecility,  what  carelessness,  what  want 
of  common  humanity  towards  the  people  of  the 
United  States  does  this  conduct  indicate! 
Now,  two  years  nearly  have  passed  away. 
There,  at  Mountain  Meadows  lie  bleaching  the 
skulls,  the  arms,  the  ribs,  the  thighs,  the  skele 
tons  of  our  people.  0,  horrid  sight  I  Sixteen 
or  seventeen  of  the  youngest  children,  spared 
from  that  band,  are  gathered  together,  but  even 
their  names  are  lost.  It  is  not  known  even  of 
whom  they  were  born.  They  are  now  thrown 
upon  the  charge  of  the  Government  itself;  that 
is,  if  we  had  a  Government.  Yet  all  this  ter 
rible  enormity  is  passed  entirely  by,  and  we 
hear  of  nothing,  nothing,  except  some  com 
mon,  low,  vile,  paltry,  partisan  squabble  in 
the  newspapers.  Perhaps  a  Postmaster  is  turned 
out  of  office,  or'another  man  is  appointed  to  the 
office  of  Collector,  and  all  because  the  old  incum 
bents  dared,  on  the  impulse  of  the  momeut,  and 
in  the  righteous  indignation  of  their  souls,  to  ex 
press  a  just  criticism  upon  some  act  of  this  Ad 
ministration,  or  because  the  successors  are  the 
friends  of  this  or  that  man,  and  are  believed  to 
posssess  a  larger  influence  which  they  can  com 
mand  for  the  subserviency  of  the  President. 
Call  you  that  a  PRESIDENT  ?  Is  that  a  GOVERN 
MENT  ?  My  God  1  my  God  1  •  And  is  it  possible 
there  is  any  sane  man  living  who  dares  to  insult 
an  intelligent  and  free  people  by  asking  them  to  | 


sustain  for  an  instant  such  a  man  as  this  ? 
[Sensation.]  I  say  it  requires  not  many  more 
such  Administrations — such  Presidents — to  bring 
about  the  dismemberment  of  this  great  Confede 
racy,  this  mighty  Union,  much  surer  than  the 
fury  of  partisan  heat.  Let  the  government  of 
the  people  of  these  United  States  become  thor 
oughly  imbecile  and  worthless,  even  as  this  Ad 
ministration  is  rendering  it,  and  it  will  fall  to 
pieces  of  itself,  without  the  necessity  of  applying 
force  in  any  quarter.  [Applause.]  Doubtless, 
more  on  this  account  than  on  any  other — 
more  on  account  of  the  imbecility,  the  in 
dolence  and  base  inhumanity  of  the  Adminis 
tration  than  on  any  other  account,  do  we  meet 
well-informed  men,  in  the  private  walks  of  life, 
xvho  think  that  this  Government  is  A  failure. 
And  it  is  a  logical  conclusion;  for  if  this  is  our 
Government,  in  the  name  of  God  let  it  fall  and 
be  wiped  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  [Great  ap 
plause.]  What  we  want  the  most  of  a  Govern 
ment  is  PROTECTION  TO  LIFE.  It  must  secure,  first 
and  always,  the  safety  of  persons,  guarantee  in 
dividual  liberty  to  every  American  citizen,  and 
when  that  fails  all  else  is  worthless.  [Prolonged 
applause.] 

Gentlemen,  as  we  approach  to  the  end  of  the  list 
of  the  prominent  acts  of  this  Administration  we  are 
again  called  to  consider  another  of  its  "triumphs." 
[Laughter.]  We  are  told  in  the  resolutions 
passed  by  the  late  Administration  Convention  of 
this  State,  that  this  Administration  of  Jarngs  Bu 
chanan  deserves  great  gratitude  for  having  sup 
pressed  the  Utah  rebellion.  "  Suppressed  1"  In 
the  name  of  mercy!  when  and  how?  An  army, 
costing  in  its  outfit  and  continued  supplies  as 
many  or  more  millions  than  the  Paraguay  Expe 
dition,  was  marched  out  in  the  wilderness,  and 
a  Commissioner  corresponding  in  character  with 
Mr.  Bowlin  was  dispatched  in  advance  to  ask 
and  receive  only  an  apology  from  Brigham 
Young.  President  Brigham  said  he  would  sin 
no  more,  and  President  Buchanan  agreed  to  say 
nothing  further  of  the  past. 

Is  that  "SUPPKESSION  ?  "  According  to  the  President's 
own  statement,  Brigham  Young  had  committed  treason. 
Now  I  ask  vou  what  right  had  this  President  to  pardon 
treason  ?  Upon  what  sort  of  apology  can  he  chooso  to 
overlook  treason  for  the  sake  of  peace  ?  Upon  the  same 
authority  h«  may  pardon  all  other  criminals  for  their 
past  iniquities,  for  th*  sake  of  relieving  the  police  of  the 
trouble  of  catching  them  and  the  courts  of  the  trouble  of 
sentencing  aud  hanging  them.  [Lauehter  and  applause.] 
Surely  this  is  a  mighty  "triumph;"  over  $4,000,000  ex 
pended;  8000  troops  marched  to  Salt  Lake  with  great  pa 
rade;  a  United  States  Commissioner  dispatched  to  anti 
cipate  all  fighting;  Brigham  Young  is  treated  with  the 
utmost  consideration,  though  acknowledged  guilty  of 
the  crime  of  treason;  his  simple  cry  for  pardon  is  ac 
cepted  as  full  satisfaction  for  his  iniquities,  and  now,  sav 
ed  from  many  cares  of  state,  rejoicinc  in  all  his  poly 
gamous  glory,  he  is  as  happy  and  as  influential  as  ever. 
[Great  laughter  and  applause.]  Now,  gentlemen,  will 
any  man,  when  he  finds  that  this  Government  avenges 
no  wrongs  or  gives  no  protection,  whether  murders  are 
committed  on  citizens  in  foreign  lands  or  within  our  own 
bounds, whether  by  the  individual  victim  or  by  the  score, 
and  all  these  things  are  passed  over  with  the  most  care 
less  indifference,  I  ask  if  any  man  can  reasonably  say 
that  he  was  astonished  that  the  President  and  the  Ad 
ministration  showed  so  little  concern  at  the  danger  of 
naturalized  citizens  being  pressed  into  service  by  Euro 
pean  cations?  It  would  have  been  a  miracle  had  it  been 
otherwise.  No  such  thing  as  a  direct,  bold  manly  course 
on  this  subject  could  have  been  expected  from  this  Pres- 


ident  After  all  the  vacillation  and  cowardice  hereto-  i  evasion's  sake.  Such  a  course  might  have  boon  pursued 
fore  exhibited  by  this  Administration,  what  else  could  I  from  motives  of  prudence  and  to  e/ade  an  assertion  of  a 
have  been  expected?  Fellow-citizens,  according:  to  the  plain  duly.  The  best  of  men  may  err,  and  in  those  times, 
telegraphic  dispatch,  it  would  seem  that  the  Adminis-  ;  perhaps,  when  such  a  tiling  was  of  most  unlikely  occur- 
tration  had  got  frightened  at  lh«  stand  it  had  taken  and  ,  renee,  it  was  deemed  by  noun-  of  our  cautious  rulers  that 
was  inclined  to  take  the  back  track.  [Laughter,]  lint  it  was  better  to  allow  a  rare  and  isolated  instance  to  pass 
telegraphic  dispatches  are  not  always  reliable;  better  i  by.  But  now  the  case  has  assumed  altogether  Different 
wait  and  see  all  that  is  at  the  foundation  of  the  rumor  be- !  proportions.  Peace,  in  a  great  measure,  has  departed, 
fore  we  place  any  confidence  in  it  There  is  something  in  j  or  is  on  the  eve  of  departing  from  the  whole  civili/ed 
favor  of  the  report  at  the  outset;  however,  as  it  is  said  ;  world.  We  find  the  flames  of  war  lighting  up  the  val- 
that  the  naturalized  citizen,  in  behalf  of  whom  the,  pow-  i  leys,  and  threatening  battles  nd  carnage  unknown  since 
er  of  the  Government  is  to  be  exercised,  originally  came  j  the  year  1815.  All  Europe  is  armed.  Every  nation  is 


from  and  was  arrested  in  Hanover.  Now,  Hanover  is 
the  very  smallest  kind  of  a  country  [laughter],  and  if 
there  is  any  country  in  the  world  with  which  this  Ad 
ministration  would  be  inclined  to  hazard  an  experiment, 
little  Hanover  would  suit  the  best.  Gentlemen,  next  to 
God  Almighty,  upon  tlfis  earth,  the  chief  visible  power 
is  that  of  the  organized  People,  State  or  Nation.  Next 
to  the  duty  we  owe  to  God  is  the  duty  we  owe  to  our 
State  ;  a  corelattve  duty  the  State  owes  to  the  oifi7.ru  — 
protection  iu  all  his  rights.  W-  hold  in  the  United  States 
that  citizens  may  be  made  in  two  ways;  they  may  be 
born  citizens,  or  made  citizens  by  a  process  established 
and  regulated  by  our  laws.  Under  this  process  those  that 
are  naturalized  are  but  citizens.  There  is  nothing  in  our 
laws,  nor  in  the  laws  of  an  y  country,  which  discrimin 
ates  and  says  that  the  word  "citizen"  means  one  thing 
in  reference  to  one  person,  and  another  thing  in  reference 
to  another  person. 
Now  I  say  that,  as  the  highest  duty  which  a  man  can 


owe,  next  to  his  duty  to  God,  is  his  duty  to  his  country  ; 
so  the  hishest  duty  which  the  country  can  owe  comes 
back  again  to  the  citizen,  who  lives  and  labors  in  her  ser 
vice.  "Naturalization'"  is  a  more  euphonious  wor 
than  "  Nativeizing."  The  foreigner  who  is  naturalized 
under  our  law  is  made  natura',  made  native,  and  in  all 
things  comes  upon  the  same  footing  with  a  born  citizen 


in  want  of  soldiers.  Now  it  is  time  that  this  thing, 
which  has  been  allowed  to  sleep  unnoticed,  ruinuiu 
undisturbed,  as  of  not  sufficient  importance  to  be  no 
ticed  in  times  past,  requires  to  be  met  in  the  face  and 
our  duties  in  regard  to  it  boldly  and  explicitly  an 
nounced  and  performed;  the  issue  is  whether  we  will 
consent  tamely  to  have  our  naturalized  citizens 
driven  about,  or  hedged  up.  or  shut  within  our  own 
boundaries,  or  whether  they  shall  all  have  per 
fect  liberty  to  go  wherever  civilized  man  mny  ven 
ture  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  [Great  applause.] 
I  am  not  astonished,  I  confess,  at  the  telegraphic  dis 
patch  to  the  effect  that  the  Administration  is  coining 
around  to  this  doctrine.  You  would  naturally  have  con 
sidered  that  two  strongly  written  letters  would  have 
done  something  towards  committing  an  Administration 
of  ordinary  ability  and  firmness  to  a  particular  line  of 
policy,  but  we  have  all  arrived  at  the  conviction  that  in 
matters  where  prevarication  and  double  dealing  is  possi 


ble,  this  Administration  is  a  splendid  exception. 

We  must,  consider  that  this  latest  intelligence  amounts 
simply  to  a  declaration   that  the   Administration   have 

'"Naturalization''''  is  a   more  euphonious  word  j  yielded  to  the  present  pressure,  and  that  it  promises  no 

real  consistent  action  worthy  of  the  name.  It  is  another 
of  those  Chinese  dodges,  intended  to  operate  at  home 
very  powerfully,  while  there  is  no  serious  purpose  of  in- 


_  asked  a  friend  this  morning,  whose  business  it  is  to  ad-  |  sisting  upon  it  abroad.  Gentlemen,  what  are  we  to  do 
minister  this  process  of  naturalization,  to  give  me  the  practically  about  this  matter?  I  do  not  know  of  any- 
oath  that  the  naturalized  citizen  had  to  swear.  1  have  thing  better  than  the  course  prescribed  for  the  President 
here  atopy  of  the  oath,  and  I  will  read  it,  though  I  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  during  the  war  of 
doubt  not  but  than  nearly  every  man  who  is  listening  to  ,  1812.  At  that  time  a  portion  of  our  troops  crossed  over 
me  now  lias  read  it.  The  applicant  is  brought  forward  ;  j  into  the  British  territory  of  Canada,  met  with  a  disaster, 
he  proves  that  he  has  been  five  years  in  the  United  '  and  General  Winfield  Scott  with  some  hundred  others 
States,  and  one  year  in  the  State  of  California — a  man  of  !  were  taken  prisoners.  Among  the  number  of  captives 


good  moral  character,  and  attached  to  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution  All  this  is  sworn  to.  by  accompany 
ing  witnesses,  before  a  Court  of  Justice.  That  being 


was  a  certain  number  of  Irish-American  citizens,  sol 
diers  in  the  ranks.  They  were  taken  with  arms  in  their 
hands  fighting  against  the  sovereign  in  whose  kingdom 


oath  :  "  You  do  solemnly  swear  that  yon  will  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  that  you  do  en 
tirely  renounce  and  abjure  all  allegiance,  and  fidelity  to 
every  foreign  Prince,  Potentiate,  State  and  Sovereignty 
whatever,  and  particularly  to  -  of  whom  you  have 
heretofore  been  a  subjeet.  So  help  you  God."  Does  this 
mean  anything  or  nothing  —  that  he  adjures  all  allegiance 
and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince,  etc.?  When  he  swore 


done,  these  United  States  require  of  him   to   take  this  j  they  were  born — taken  upon  his  own  soil.     Straightway 

the  British  officers  parceled  off  the  sons  of  Erin,  put 
them  on  board  of  a  ship  for  the  purpose  of  sending  them 
to  be  tried  and  doubtless  executed  for  treason.  General 
Scott  told  the  British  officer,  in  whoso  hands  he  was  at 
that  momenta  prisoner,  that  the  thing  thev  contempla 
ted  could  not  be  done  with  impunity,  that  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  retaliate,  and  that  for 
every  life  of  one  of  those  rebellious  Irishmen,  taken  in 

allegiance'to  the  United  States  of  America,  did  he  the  act  of  "treason"  against  the  English  Govermnent,one 
straightway  become  bound  in  allegiance  to  the  United  j  would  be  required  from  among  the  number  of  British 
States  of  America?  That  is  all  that  is  in  the  question,  j  prisoners  in  the  bands  of  the  Americans.  [Great  ap- 
Can  we  undertake  to  place  a  man  in  a  position  like  that,  |  plause  and  hisses.]  ^General  Scott  subsequently  repro- 
to  require  of  him  the  best  service  of  his  brain  and  his 
muscle,  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  life  at  all  times,  every 
where  and  upon  all  emergencies,  even  to  serve,  as  is  re 
quired  of  us,  who  were  born  upon  this  soil,  yet  say : 
'•But  if  you  should  happen  to  get  within  the  reach  of 
the  only  power  or  person  on  the  face  of  the  earth  by 
whom  th  re  is  the  least  probability  of  your  being  mo 


sented  the  matter  at  Washington,  and  a  law  was  passed 
on  that  subject,  which  I  willread  to  you  : 


lested,  then,  in  tha'  case,  it  all  meann  nothing,  and  the 


"  An  Act  Vesting  in  the  President  of  the  United  States 

tlie  J'mcer  of  Retaliation  : 

"  SECTION  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
Congres?  assembled,  That  in  all  and  every  case  wherein, 


arresting  Government  may  do  as  it  pleases  with  you."  !  during  the  present  war  between  the  United  States  of 
If  we  would  not  be  a  nation  of  dastards,  we  are  bound  America  and  the  United  Kingdom  of  ,Great  Britain  and 
to  protect  this  man,  just  as  if  he  was  born  amongst  us.  Ireland,  any  violations  of  tli«  laws  and  usages  of  war 


Gentlemen,  we  borrow  this  process  of  naturalization,  ns 
we  borrow  nearly  everythinir  else,  out  of  the  English 


among  civilized  nations  shall  be  or   have  bwen  'lone  and 
perpetrated  by  those  acting  under  authority  of  the  Bri- 


law.  We  find  in  the  English  law  books,  as  old  as  two  tisb  Government,  on  any  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
hundred  years,  that  naturalization  cannot  be  upon  con- ;  States,  or  persons  in  the  land  or  naval  service  of  the 
ditions,  nor  cannot  be  qualified  in  a  degree,  but  th-it  it  i  United  States,  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  here 
in  ust  be  complete,  absolute  and  perfect.  By  referring  by  authorised  to  cause  full  and  am  pie  retaliation  to  be 
to  these  law  books  you  will  find  in  the  appropriate  |  made,  according  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  war  among 
phrases,  in  the  language  of  that  time,  a  clear  and  dis-  :  civilized  nations,  for  all  and  every  such  violation  as 
tinct  announcement  of  this  proposition.  But  it  will  be  aforesaid. 

said  that  on  certain  times  and  occasions,  some  of  the  best  !  llS  c.2.  And  belt  further  enacted,  That  in  all  cases 
of  our  Secretaries  of  State  and  President-*  have  suffered  ]  where  any  outrage,  or  act  of  cruelty  or  barbarity  shall 
citizens  of  the  United  States  to  be  pressed  into  military  j  be  or  has  been  practiced  by  any  Indian  or  Indians  in 
•ervice  in  European  countries.  It  matters  not  what  was  alliance  with  the  British  Government,  or  in  connec- 
uone  contrary  to  law  and  for  expediency  sake  it  the  I  tion  with  those  acting  under  the  authority  of  the  said 
early  days  of  our  Republic.  If  such  omissions  occurred,  Government,  on  citizens  of  the  United  states,  or  those 
they  were  permitted  against  avowed  principles  and  for  .  under  its  protection,  the  President  of  the  United  States 


13 


is  hereby  authorized  to  cause  full  and  ample  retalia 
tion  to  be  done  and  executed  on  such  British  subjects, 
soldiers,  seamen,  or  marines,  or  Indians,  in  alliance 
or  connection  with  Great  Britain,  being  prisoners  of 
war,  as  if  the  same  outrage,  or  act  of  cruelty  or  barbarity 
had  been  done  under  the  authority  of  the  British  Gov 
ernment. 
"Approved  March  3, 1813  " 

1  Now,  General  Scott  was  charged  with  the  execu 
tion  of  this  law;  it  was  his  duty  to  see  that  this 
retaliation  was  duly  executed.  He  parceled  off  just  ex 
actly  the  same  number  of  British  prisoners  in  his  hands 
as  they  had  >iatumlized  Irish-Americans,  and  then  he 
sent  a  communication  to  the  British  authorities,  that  for 
•very  Irish-American  citizen  who  suffered,  one  of  these 
British  prisoners  should  be  hung  also.  [Great  applause 
and  a  few  hisses.]  I  say,  that's  the  way.  It'  we  are 
not  a  nation  of  dastards— if  we  are  not  a  grand  conglom 
erate  of  cowards,  then,  I  say,  whether  war  or  peace,  we 
have  here  a  rule— a  natural  rule— to  apply  to  such  a  case. 
[Applause.]  I  will  not  stop  to  argue  upon  sentences  out 
of  books — quoting  a  passage  here  and  there  to  make  an 
argument,  as  though  I  was  before  a  Court.  I  will  leave 
it  to  your  judgment  and  natural  sense  of  justice  and  mat- 
hood  whether  you  are  not  ready  to  stand  up  and  insist 
upon  the  rights  of  naturalized  citizens,  as  well  as  the 
rights  of  citizens  born  upon  our  soil.  [Applause.]  "Will 
it  bring  war  ?  Let  war  come.  [Prolonged  applause.] 
Who  will  be  the  first  man  to  say,  I  will  shrink  irom  this 
danger  rather  than  undertake  to  redress  or  prevent  such 
a  wrong  as  this  ?  You  could  not  find  any  respectable 
citizen  of  that  temper.  Go  through  the  populous  portions 
of  the  State,  and  put  the  question  :  Ara  you  willing  now, 
from  fear  of  balls,  or  from  fear  of  all  the  dangers  of  war, 
are  you  willing  to  submit  that  A  or  B  should  be  deprived 
of  liberty  and  shoved  into  the  ranks  of  a  foreign  army  ? 
You  cannot  find  the  man  base  enough  to  answer  that 
question  affirmatively.  Thtre  is  no  man  among  us  so 
lost  to  shame  as  to  submit  to  the  degrading  concession 
which  this  nerveless,  boneless,  bloodless  Administration 
has  made.  Let  us  then  make  short  work  of  it.  Let  us 
have  a  law  of  retaliation  in  their  very  face.  Let  it  be 
made  known  to  the  proper  authorities  in  France,  Eng 
land,  Germany,  and  Austria,  that  for  any  one  of  our 
adopted  citizens,  born  on  their  soil,  who  may  be  forced 
into  the  ranks  of  their  armies,  we  will  select  one  of  the 
best  of  their  unnaturalized  subjects  in  this  country,  and 
set  him  to  cracking  stones  or  making  bricks  in  the  Peni 
tentiary.  [Great  applause  and  great  laugnter,  and  cries 
of  "Good !  "That's  tho  practice !"]  Under  these  circum 
stances  you  may  be  sure  that  there  will  be  very  short 
work  made  of  diplomacy.  Not  one  of  these  countries 
•which  1  have  named  is  going  to  run  the  risk  of  beginning 
a  quarrel  with  us. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  power  of  your  coun 
try  is  superior  to  that  of  any  other;  but  what  advan 
tage  compared  with  the  disadvantage,  would  it  be  for 
England  or  any  of  the  Nations  on  the  Continent  to  in 
augurate  a  series  of  reprisals  such  as  I  have  anticipated, 
even  if  it  did  not  lead  to  direct  war  ?  They  would  not 
do  it.  To  silence  their  whole  wrath  it  only  requires,  on 
our  part,  a  firm  hand  and  a  proper  government. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  in  all  these  things  of  which  I 
have  spoken  to  you  to-night,  California,  more  than  any 
other  part  of  the  United  States,  is  deeply  interested.  We 
delight  here  to  dwell  upon  the  favors  which  nature  has 
bestowed  upon  our  country.  We  delight  to  speak  of  her 
climate,  her  soil,  her  minerals,  her  wealth  of  Beauty — to 
say  that  California  is  a  jewel  set  in  the  ring  of  the 
temperate  zone.  But,  gentlemen,  there  are  other  things 
which  should  receive  attentive  consideration  from  our 
hands.  From  California  went  thote  men  whose  blood 
was  murderously  shed  on  the  Plains  of  Cavorca,  sinking 
unavenged  in  the  soil  of  Mexico.  Mostly  from  Califor 
nia  went  these  men  who  were  imprisoned  through  twen 
ty  degrees  of  latitude.  Our  people  from  one  cause  and 
another  are  exceedingly  prone  to  roam,  and  venturing 
abroad,  they  have  met  with  wrongs  and  indignities 
of  the  nature  described.  It  was  to  California  that 
these  immigrants  were  coming  whose  bones  now 
lie  bleaching  at  Mountain  Meadows.  If,  then,  there 
is  any  part  of  the  United  States  which  can  endure 
an  Administration  of  this  kind,  which  can  stand 
by  and  approve  its  conduct,  it  is  not  California. — 
[Great  applause.]  What  may  be  a  light  blow  to  other 
communities  comes  home  to  our  very  hearts.  It  may  be 
a  matter  of  indifference  to  others,  comparatively  speak 
ing,  that  tie  President  of  the  United  States  should  abdi 


cate  all  the  great  powers  of  the  Government  essential 
for  the  protection  of  Americnn  citizens,  but  it  is  no 
trifle  to  us,  because  we  are  in  a  position  more  insu 
lated  that  an  island,  more  distant,  more  difficult  of  ap 
proach.  And  if  we  are  to  belong  to  the  American  Con 
federacy,  it  is  only  by  getting  and  keeping  the  powers 
of  the  government  into  hands  which  have  the  nerve, 
courage  and  intelligence  to  use  them  all  on  every  proper 
occasion.  [Applause.]  If  we  have  no  government;  if  the 
"Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy"  means 
nothing,  it  is  an  invitation  to  any  one  that  wants  us  to 
come  and  take  us.  You  will  remember  that  the  whole 
population  of  the  State  of  California  is  not  more  than 
that  of  a  third  or  fourth  rate  European  city.  In  these 
days  they  raise  urmies  by  the  millions,  they  have  great 
ships-of-war  by  the  hundreds,  and  it  any  one  is  tempted 
by  the  weak,  vacillating,  timid  course  of  our  Govern 
ment  to  make  an  attack  upon  us,  here  is  the  precious 
point  to  strike.  The  only  hope  for  us  is  in  not  giving 
undue  power  to  the  Federal  Government,  but  in  placing 
the  powers  which  are  now  legitimately  connected  with 
it  in  the  hands  of  men  who  will  use  them  bravely  and 
discreetly  ;  use  them  to  keep  danger  from  our  doors  ; 
use  them,  if  we  are  attacked,  to  drive  our  assailants  home 
again.  [Great  applause.] 

Gentlemen,  what  good  will  rcome  from  all  this  party 
strife  which  we  witness  among  the  States  on  the  Eas 
tern  board  ?  We  have  no  slaves,  and  never  shall  have 
any.  No  man  thinks  of  introducing  slaves  anywhere 
into  the  State  of  California.  The  neighboring  State  of 
Oregon  won't  eren  let  free  negroes  come  within  her 
borders.  [Laughter,  j  We  are  entirely  cut  off.  We 
have  our  own  great  interests  upon  the  Pacific  coast. 
First  of  all  is  HARMONY  through  the  great  body  of  this 
Union,  and  therefore  I  say  that  in  California  we  do 
not  want  laws  passed  for  slavery  or  against  slavery,  or 
any  kind  of  slave  laws.  All  we  want  is  never  to  bear 
j  of  slaves.  Slavery  is  a  matter  of  no  concern  to  us. 
Let  us  use  the  little  influence  we  have  in  keeping 
other  people  steady  and  sober,  so  as  to  allow  the  Union 
to  flourish  and  grow  strong,  in  order  that  w«  may 
enjoy  its  protection.  To  whatever  quarter  we  run  a 
line  of  extension,  and  make  new  States  of  free  white 
American  populations,  we  strengthen  California. 
Is  there  any  man  amongst  us  —  is  there  any 
one  man  who  objects  to  the  introduction  of  five  or  six 
slave  states,  or  five  or  six  states  which  are  free  states,  or 
both  tog  jther?  All  the  neighbors  that  we  can  get,  all 
the  states  which  can  be  brought  together  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  will  have  a  common  interest,  and  tend  to  the  pro 
tection  of  ourselves,  out-lying  this  day,  on  this  distant 
border.  Let  us  not  be  drawn  into  other  peoples'  quar 
rels  ;  let  us  not  begin  taking  our  opinions  from  dictation 
from  any  source  in  the  east;  let  us  not  be  bribed  by 
Federal  money;  let  us  not  be  deceived  by  arguments 
which  have  no  application  to  us;  let  us  use  what  influ 
ence  we  have  to  keep  peace  among  our  fellow-country 
men  ;  to  prevent  State  from  coming  into  collision  with 
State,  and  if  possible,  to  have  that  past  cordiality  again 
restored,  which  alone  can  keep  California  permanently 
under  our  flag.  (Great  and  prolonged  applause). 

Gentlemen,  in  one  more  light  is  it  our  pleasure  to 
contemplate  California.  I  spoke  of  her  as  a  jewel,  as  an 
island.  I  now  speak  of  her  as  a  promontojy  of  civiliza 
rward  amid  the  heathen  and 


tion,   thrust  forward 


uncivilized 


wastes  of  this  Pacific  world.  Around  us  are  perishing 
races  and  crumbling  governments.  Our  policy,  our 
laws,  should  impress,  remodel,  and  control  this  mighty 
mass.  Our  horizon  is  studded  with  the  eager  eyes  of 
dusky  millions,  who  look  to  us  for  their  fate,  whether  for 
good"  or  for  evil  ;  whether  by  a  peaceful  influence  ; 
whether  by  conquest  and  to  their  destruction.  How  our 
part  is  to  be  performed,  is  among  the  great  questions  of 
futurity,  but  its  issues  are  in  our  hands",  if  we  are  true  to 
ourselves.  (Applause).  Just  as  the  thirteen  colonies 
lay  along  the  Eastern  board,  with  the  waters  of  the  At- 
1  lantic  on  the  one  side,  and  the  wilderness  on  the  other; 
so  lie  we  along  this  western  slope,  with  a  greater  ocean 
on  the  one  hand,  and  an  equal  wilderness  on  the  other. 
As  they  were  then,  so  now  are  we  ;  not  the  rivals  of 
great  commonwealths,  who  in  ages  have  grown  to  wealth 
and  power,  but  yet,  in  the  struggling  and  constructive 
era,  to  be  built  up.  We  need  more  enterprise,  more  ef 
fective  force,  more  fruitful  labor  ;  and  all  this  to  be 
shielded  with  the  strong  hand  of  a  wise  and  sympathis 
ing  Government. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  but  one  more  remark  to  make, 
and  that  is  :  In  the  light  which  I  have  viewed  these 
questions  I  have  spoken  to  you  more  as  American 


14 


citizens  than  as  politicians,  and  therefore  I  say  to  Dein- 
ocratd,  to  Republicans,  to  Whigs  if  there  be  any.  to 
Know  Nothings,  or  whatever  may  l>e  the  prevailing 
party  amongst  our  fellow-citizen*  of  whatever  under- 
standing  they  may  be,  whet  her  in  the  ranks  of  a  great 
party,  whether  in  a  secret  society,  so  cast  your  votea 
now,  according  to  your  consciences,  that,  whatever  elso 
may  follow,  you  will  not  bring  to  view  again  such  a 
President  and  such  an  Administration. 


At  the  close  of  Mr.  Randolph's  remarks  he  was  greetei 
with  tumultuous  applause  and  cheering. 

Loud  cries  were  ma'le  for  Mr.  Broderick. 

Mr.  POULTERKB  announced  that  it  had  been  expected 
that  Mr.  Broderick  would  address  the  meeting,  but  he 
found  it  impossible  to  be  present 

Tne  meeting  broke  up  at  11  o'clock. 


